Heaven's Mercy
by KYOGAKURA
Summary: AU Valenwind. Cid doesn't remember who he is after the fall of ShinRa 26. He's only had his dreams to keep him company...
1. Chapter 1

"Heaven's Mercy"

A/N: Random plot. Rather pointless since I don't know heck 'bout their world but still, trying won't hurt me. (Unless y'all decide to flame me, otherwise…)

Valenwind and maybe some Sephirot x Cloud/ Cloud x Zack

On with the fic…

'Whoa,' he thought as he floated around the never-ending sea of blue. Although, floating was such an understatement, heck, he flew. No, he did not fly up with an airship or any other contraptions this time. Oh no, he had grown wings.

_Yes, Cid Highwind had grown wings._

"_Careful Highwind," a tall dark-winged figure with a red cloak said to him. Funny though, he can't see the stranger's face but he could only feel warmth emanating from the guy. It felt like he was home._

"_Hah Righ'! Don't need yer damned concern 'bout this. I was born to fly!" he said as he flipped for emphasis._

"_Just…just be careful Highwind, you'll never know…" the dark-winged figure replied but his concern fell on deaf ears as Cid nose-dived towards the sea._

_He had his freedom and the sky and the ocean were under his feet. He was flying and there was no one there to stop him._

"_The fuck with planes!" he yelled when he easily opened his wings to charge up again. Yeah, life was good._

_That is, until the storm dragged him in._

_He never saw it coming. The sudden change in the wind, the darkening sky. _

_His freedom being sucked away._

He never had the chance to react when the darkness took him to oblivion.

Of course, he never heard or saw the dark-winged figure, which screamed at him when he fell…

Cid Highwind woke up with a start reeking of sex and booze. How many times had he woken up inside a brothel after a hard day at the Hangar? How many times had he woken up to see empty faces staring up at him, expecting their nights pay?

He couldn't remember for the life of him.

He grunted as he got up from the lumpy mattress he was sitting on and reached for the nightstand to get his goggles. He extracted a couple of crumpled bills and laid them by the ashtray and cigarette wrappers. He then got dressed and went out of the door.

He was walking rather briskly as he made his way around Rocket town, well, the slum part of Rocket town. Only one thing was on his mind and that was the dream he got.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that it happened before. Hell, he felt the darkness surround him.

'Maybe I'm just getting old…Ack! Heck no!' he mentally berated himself just by thinking that wretched thought. Maybe it just had something to do with his forgotten past.

Yeah, he remembered the day he got here. He was in a bloody mess and nearly unidentifiable save for his dogtag which was chained 'round his neck. He can't remember anything from before he was found. All that was left of his past was his name, age and serial number which were all engraved in that dogtag.

He fingered the said object as he turned the corner. A couple of blocks more and he'd be home free.

Anyway, back to the day he was found, he was a 'massive blob of blood' as his savior dubbed him. Shera found him near the crash site of ShinRa 26. She nursed his sorry ass back to health and since then, they'd been leaving together. It had been five long years since the incident happened. It had been five long years since he met his happiness. But it had only taken two years of drunken breakdowns that caused his rescuer and fiancée, Shera, to leave him all alone in their measly home.

Sometimes, it still bugged him to think that if he hadn't told Shera about his strange dreams, maybe she'd still be here.

Maybe, his depression would just stop before it took a turn for the worst.

His pace suddenly took a sudden halt as he was hit by a red blur. He fell on his ass on the pavement and he automatically rubbed the sore spot.

"What the fuck, ya should've watched where yer fuckin' going!" he said through a grimace. He also remembered that his last pack of cigarettes were on his back pocket. There goes his day of _fun_.

"I apologize," said the red blur. Cid was still too busy cursing and cussing 'bout the loss of his cigarettes and the forming bruise on his ass.

"Damnit, why dintcha watch where yer goin' anyway, it's not like there's a whole lot of space to fucking look at!" said Cid as he stood up and dusted himself.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry," the talking red blur insisted. Oh, a cheeky one.

"The hell, ya could've made it sound si-

He didn't finish what he was saying 'cause when he looked up, he saw the face of the nameless stranger in his dreams.

Fate had a funny way of bringing people together but this ain't one of them.

.+. Author's Notes .+.

Yeah, that's about it. Tell me how y'all feel 'bout it.


	2. Traumerei Dreams

Chapter Two: Fallen Lilies

Last chapter…

"Hey, I already said I was sorry," the talking red blur insisted. Oh, a cheeky one.

"The hell, ya could've made it sound si-

He didn't finish what he was saying 'cause when he looked up, he saw the face of the nameless stranger in his dreams.

Fate had a funny way of bringing people together but this ain't one of them.

He tore his gaze from the guy's alabaster, paler-than-pale face after much deliberation on his part. He was mentally strangling himself as to why he didn't just go and punch the livin' lights outta the guy and why he can't shake off the feeling that somehow…_somehow_…

"Here," the said guy extended his hand towards Highwind. This brought him back to his senses and he could feel a bruise forming 'round his bottom. Highwind glared at it and jumped up to his feet without any further fuss.

_Heh, didn't think I could do that, did ya?_ Highwind mentally did a victory dance and smirked. He even huffed a little mainly because of the fact that he got his cursing a the minimum (This was the first guy he cussed that day and it was already noon) and that maybe, the heavens might suddenly look at his good self and bring him back his Shera.

"And here I thought I was making a friendly gesture," Cid just ignored the comment and inhaled deep, calming himself. He was on a role here. Hell yeah! He thought he almost heard the guy chuckle. Planet, help him if he did, he'd walking home with his hobo cloak shoved so far up his fuckin' ass.

"Hmmm…pretty fit for an old guy," the guy said still holding his arm out to Highwind. Okay, that did it, there was no heaven! After a few moments, all hell broke loose…with a vengeful spork.

"ENOUGH OF YER FUCKIN' ASS CHEEK. FUCK THIS, I AIN'T IN THE MOOD TO BE MESSED 'ROUND WITH AND I WON'T TAKE ANYMORE SHIT FROM THE DAMN LIKES OF YA SO JUST GET THE FUCK OFF!" Cid yelled at the top of his voice. Almost sounded shrill but who cared? He huffed, straightened his collar and walked off.

Or stormed off, whichever you prefer.

People from around them were staring. Yeah, if y'all can consider them people. More like the bums and the stoned creatures were staring at them with their eyes being all twitchy and whatnot. Anyway, Highwind went his way fuming, cursing and throwing away his now broken pack of smokes.

'Tis a good thing that the engineer/pilot didn't see the cloaked stranger after their exchange. Otherwise…things would've gotten uglier than Cid's verbal abuse.

The stranger just smiled behind his buckled red cloak. He dusted here and there and fixed himself. Then, he looked up to the sky and thought to himself:

_He didn't change Aeris, just like you said._

And with that, he followed the trail of the pissed-off head engineer and pilot of Rocket town.

_And possibly in the whole planet. _The stranger added to his musings.

Now we follow the glorious Cid Highwind knocking over an innocent flower vendor on the street.

Just how did he loose reflexes after 4 fuckin' years of stormy flights, avoiding lightning strikes here and there, was still a mystery to him.

He just fucking hit two random people in a span of ten damn minutes!

He was storming away, hands in his pockets, away from the cheeky guy who bumped into him in the slum parts of Rocket town. He never met a guy who would tease him straight up to his face and smile while doing it. Well, that is, unless 'teasing' was meant in a whole new different way…ahem…anyway, he just couldn't get the chuckling guy's cloaked face.

Oh how he wanted to get some color into those pale cheeks…yeah! Colored with multiple intensities of bruises more like it.

But then, he could've done that a while back. He just didn't know why he held back.

_It was fer Shera…my Shera…_ he thought to himself but that just wasn't enough.

He never gave a shit before about what Shera would think if he punched a guy just for looking at him funny. Heck no, Shera didn't bother with that. If all, maybe she even liked his tough exterior. She didn't leave 'cause of that…

Or maybe she did… 

Ack! Enough of that, no! She left 'cause she can't take anymore of yer drunken sprees every night and yer awful breakdowns…which often results to violence…

Yeah…she left 'cause ya just had to be a tough guy.

He didn't notice that a pink-clad girl with soft brown bangs that defied the laws of hair-gel but was amazingly cute was about to hit him.

And hit him she did.

Lilies flied and so did the girl. Both bodies fell in a heap with a dull thud and a few groans.

He was cussing when he remembered that it was a girl he hit while walking. Shit, what a gentleman Highwind.

He got up, knowing too late that the girl was on top of him, and he scolded himself again.

"err…sor…sooorr…ah. Fuck it, here," he extended his right hand to help the girl and the girl took it. She smiled up at him and then got all surprised.

"did you see where my basket went?" she asked him. he remembered seeing the basket fly up somewhere and he was determined to find it.

"err…I'll find it. Hang on," he found it lying a few feet away from him.

"Here ya go!" he said and grinned his Highwind grin at the girl. Minus the cigarette of course.

_Ohhh…the Planet must fuckin' hate me…_Cid mentally groaned as he rubbed his ass. Someone's gonna be sore tomorrow.

"Here's your basket, lady." Pushing past Cid, she frantically looked everywhere with a panicked expression.

"Thank you," she didn't stop looking panicked though.

"Oh, my lilies!" of course. Cid sighed and picked up the lilies. Wow, he was bein' a gentleman all of a sudden. 'S long as the guys from the tavern didn't see him, it was good.

After about 2 minutes, all the lilies were back in place.

"Soo…soooorrr…sorry'boutdat," Cid made a very sorry excuse for an apology but nonetheless, the girl smiled.

"It was nothing. Here, have one. Give it to someone dear, you'll never know," she said and gave him a lily. Or it may be a lily, it had a gash of reddish hue in the middle all scattering but not overpowering the white of the flower. Around the edges of the five white-red petals were black spots, highlighting the whole flower. It was truly remarkable.

Not that he was admiring it, of course. Tough guys don't do that.

The girl walked off while he stared at the flower. He did a double take but a sudden wind blew and the girl was no longer there.

"Hmmm…pretty weird this day turns out to be. Maybe I should stop getting' laid…HELL NO!" and with that, he continued his long journey to his pad at the center of Rocket town.

Unknown to him, the cloaked guy was observing him from the shadows.

Tsk, you just had to make the first move, hadn't you Aeris? 

.+.A/N.+.

Be good. Just go and press the go button. Go on, ya know ya want to.


End file.
